The Etrog: Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

The etrog tree, according to midrash, fulfilled God’s command in creation, such that the tree tasted like its fruit. It was also the tree of Knowledge from which Eve ate. By taking the etrog on Sukkot along with the other species, we atone for this primordial sin.

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"The Etrog: Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil." TheTorah.com. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-etrog-fruit-of-the-tree-of-knowledge-of-good-and-evil.

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"The Etrog: Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil" (n.d.). TheTorah.com. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-etrog-fruit-of-the-tree-of-knowledge-of-good-and-evil

Prof. Rabbi Rachel Adelman
The Etrog: Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil

Large Citron in a Landscape, Bartolomeo Bimbi, 1690's. Wikimedia

Published: September 28, 2023

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Last Updated: October 28, 2026

  1. My translation.

  2. As in Pss 21:6, 96:6, 111:3, and 145:5. The verb hadar means: “to honor or show favor, respect, or preference” (cf. Exod 23:3, Lev 19:15, Prov 25:6, Lam. 5:12); as a noun, hadar often appears in a hendiadys with the words כבוד “honor,” הוד “glory,” and תפארת “splendor.” See BDB entry 1921 and 1926 (pp. 213-214).

  3. David Z. Moster Etrog: How a Chinese Fruit Became a Jewish Symbol (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Pivot, 2018).

  4. Dafna Langgut, “The Etrog: Celebrating Sukkot with a Persian Apple,” TheTorah (2021).

  5. Jud. Ant. 3:245 and Jud. Ant. 13:372 respectively.

  6. Nogah Hereuveni, Tree and Shrub in our Biblical Heritage, trans. Helen Frenkley (Neot Kedumim 1984), 77, 81-83.

  7. Rashi (ca. 1040–ca. 1105) quotes these two specifically:

    רש"י ויקרא כג:מ "פרי עץ הדר" – עץ שטעם עצו כפריו, הדר באילנו משנה לשנה, וזהו אתרוג.
    Rashi Lev 23:40 The fruit of a majestic tree—because the taste of the tree is the same as that of the fruit, which dwells [hadar, from the Aramaic דור) on its tree from year to year—this is the etrog/citron.

  8. In scientific terms, this would mean that the workings of the xylem and phloem, the mechanism of chlorophyll that transforms sunlight into sugars, is at one with its ultimate purpose: the burgeoning of the fruit.

  9. Genesis Rabbah 5:7 forwards several hypotheses on the identity of the tree of Knowledge: 1) wheat [ḥitin] (according to R. Meir); 2) grapes [‘anavim] (according to R. Yehuda); 3) citron (R. Aba of Akko) 4) figs [te’enim] (R. Yossi); and 5) R. ‘Azarya and R. Yehuda bar Simon both claim God deliberately did not (and will not) reveal the tree’s identity.

  10. He writes:

    רמב"ן ויקרא כג:מ ...והנכון בעיני כי האילן הנקרא בלשון ארמית אתרוג נקרא שמו בלשון הקודש הדר, כי פירוש אתרוג חמדה, כדמתרגמינן נחמד למראה (בראשית ב ט), דמרגג למיחזי, לא תחמוד (דברים ה יז), לא תרוג. ואמרינן (נוסח הכתובה): שפר ארג נכסין. ולשון חמדה והדר שוים בטעם.
    Ramban Lev 23:40 …The correct interpretation in my eyes is that the tree, which is named etrog in Aramaic, is called in the holy language [Hebrew] hadar, because “etrog” means “desirable [ḥemdah]”, just as [Onkelos] translated, “desirable to the eyes” as “dimragag to see” (Gen 2:9); and “Do not covet/desire your neighbor’s house” as “l’o tirog” (Deut 5:17). And we also say: “from all the best, arag (most desirable) properties.” And the language of “desirable [ḥemdah]” and “beautiful or splendid [hadar]” are similar in meaning.

    Indeed, all the trees described as delectable to the eyes in the Garden of Eden (before the sin), as seen in the Targum’s rending of כָּל עֵץ נֶחְמָד לְמַרְאֶה as “כָּל אִילָן דִּמְרַגַּג לְמִחְזֵי” (Gen. 2:9). Desire is neutral when it comes to fruit trees in a pleasure garden (that is, until the snake intervened). To unpack some of Ramban’s specific proofs: Targum Onqelos translates the last of commandments in the Decalogue as: “You shalt not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor desire your neighbor’s house [וְלֹ֥א תַחְמֹ֖ד אֵ֣שֶׁת רֵעֶ֑ךָ וְלֹ֨א תִתְאַוֶּ֜ה בֵּ֣ית רֵעֶ֗ךָ]…” as “וְלָא תַחְמֵיד …וְלָא תִרּוֹג”. The verbs “to covet [ḥamad]” and “to desire [‘.vav.heh]” are nearly synonymous. As for the expression Ramban quotes without referring to a source, AlHaTorah Editors on Ramban Leviticus 23:40 suggest: “The source of the expression is found in Targum Jonathan to Psalms 45:14. From Ramban's words "we say," it would seem that he is referring to that phrase written in the marriage contract wherein the husband undertakes to pay to his wife a certain sum of money ‘from all the best, most desirable of his belongings.’” The Aramaic verb רגג enters Medieval Hebrew by way of liturgical poetry (piyyut). It means simply “to desire”; or, as a noun, meaning: desire, longing, yearning, delight געגועים כיסוף חמדה =. It appears in the piyyutim of Elazar haKallir (c. 640); Rav Saadiah Gaon (c. 942), Shmuel bar’ Hoshana (c. 1012). Ramban continues by explaining that both the tree and the fruit are called hadar:

    ונקרא העץ והפרי בשם אחד, כי כן המנהג ברוב הפירות תאנה אגוז רמון זית וזולתם, וכן זה שם העץ והפרי שניהם בארמית אתרוג ובלשון הקודש הדר:....
    The tree and fruit have the same name as in other fruit trees like walnut, pomegranate, olive and others, and so too both the name of the tree and the fruit is “etrog” in Aramaic, in the holy tongue: hadar.….

  11. My translation.

  12. cf. Pesiqta de-Rav Kahana 27:9.

Prof. Rav Rachel Adelman is Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible at Boston’s Hebrew College, where she also received ordination. She holds a Ph.D. in Hebrew Literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and is the author of The… Read More
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